I think aspartame caused my crohn's disease

[PomeSutton]

So i was born and grew up in England and my health was always fine there, then when i was 13 i moved to New Zealand and about 2 years later was diagnosed with crohn's disease. When we first came to NZ i drank a hell of a lot of ribena to the point where one day my mum decided it was too unhealthy so she started getting the sugar free version of ribena. Im not exactly sure of the timing of this as it was quite a while ago now but im pretty sure this was around the time i first started to develop crohn's.

I didn't like the taste of the sugar free ribena so i soon switched to sugar free robinsons orange juice which is an English brand that is made in England and shipped to New Zealand. This contains the artificial sweeteners Aspartame and Saccharin. Point being that i have read that when aspartame is in a liquid it will break down into its components, Methanol, Aspartic acid and Phenylalanine, and shipping it to the other side of the world from England to NZ would sure give it plenty of time to break down. Perhaps this is a possible explanation for the very high prevalence of Crohn's in New Zealand. I think its also worth mentioning that i knew another guy who moved to NZ from England and got Crohn's though i would have no idea about his diet.

Despite the claims that aspartame is safe by the FDA im not convinced, they have said that about multiple things in the past which have proven to be dangerous and my faith is futher shaken when i look at the dirty politics that were involved in even getting aspartame approved in the first place, and it was approved largely thanks to Donald Rumsfeld who is also responsible for giving us the oh so fantastic "War on Terror". Besides the artificial sweetener industry is a billion dollar industry and i think you would have to be pretty naive to think the FDA is above corruption when it comes to approving something like aspartame, and is it just me or is there definition of 'safe'; it'll only kill a few people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS_gCcevZqY
(I realise that Dr Mercola may not be the most reliable source but the other guy seems to know what he is talking about)
This video suggests a mechanism for the methanol component of aspartame causing Multiple Sclerosis which like crohn's is an auto-immune disease. Could the same sort of mechanism cause Crohn's or could they even be related. On a side note an interesting case is that of Michael J Fox getting Parkinson's disease at such a young age when he was a spokesperson for pepsi and supposedly addicted to diet pepsi.

I do have or have had some unexplained symptoms like a chronic cough, slurring speech, not being able to concentrate when before i was top of the class, constant headaches, chronic rash in armpits and groin which i had biopsied and they couldn't figure out why it was and they told me 'most likely a drug reaction', also joint pain in my lower back when i was fit which a physiotherapist could not seem to help, ridiculous amounts of bloating, hearing a loud noise in my ear at night when its perfectly quiet, inability to get up in the mornings(way more than is normal), poor memory, acne(so bad i had laser resurfacing), loss of coordination, cuts under my ear lobes etc. The list goes on. I find it hard to believe my previously healthy body one day just decided to go completely ballistic.

Anyway I quit aspartame about a month and a half ago and at first i felt much worse with very bad headaches and fatigue which now seem to gradually getting better and i also have been getting very watery D since stopping which also seems to be getting better. I wonder if i am going through some sort of withdrawal.

Sorry for the long rant but i'm interested to know what you think about think about all this and would be especially interested to know if any of you or people you know have had problems with aspartame or any artificial sweetener for that matter or moved to New Zealand and then developed crohn's. Thanks

 

[VeganOstomy]

If you want to learn a bit more about aspartame and IBD, have a look at this:http://evidencebasedibd.blogspot.ca/2013/03/artificial-sweeteners-and.html

 

[vivaelbirdo]

I think ignoring 75 years of medical research to claim one particular things is the cause of Crohn's disease is a misunderstanding of how scientific research works. Aspartame is likely not good for you, and maybe it doesn't help your Crohn's. But there is simply no scientific evidence that it is the *cause* of a disease that causes your immune system to go bonkers.

As the child of research scientists, please don't ignore their hard work by searching for easy answers to problems that they have spent decades studying.

 

[PomeSutton]

I think ignoring 75 years of medical research to claim one particular things is the cause of Crohn's disease is a misunderstanding of how scientific research works. Aspartame is likely not good for you, and maybe it doesn't help your Crohn's. But there is simply no scientific evidence that it is the *cause* of a disease that causes your immune system to go bonkers.

As the child of research scientists, please don't ignore their hard work by searching for easy answers to problems that they have spent decades studying.

How am i ignoring the research on Crohn's, they haven't ruled out Environmental factors playing a part in the development of crohn's disease have they. Show me a credible study that looks directly at aspartame and a possible link to Crohn's, or scientific evidence proves it is not a potential cause of Crohn's. I don't trust studies on Aspartame paid for by the Aspartame Industry, and i dont trust the current story that aspartame being safe. There was a criminal investigation by the FDA into the original research done by GD Searle on aspartame which found they were manipulating data. Your parents may be honest people but that doesn't mean all research scientist's are incorruptible. The cause of crohn's is not known so how can you be so sure that aspartame isn't it or at least a factor. If you are so up to date with the research then i would love to know what is the latest theory on what causes Crohn's.

 

[shamrock15]

You have answered your own question. You started your post stating aspartame caused the disease, and now state it as a contributing factor. There is a huge difference between the two. Environmental agents can contribute to many diseases, but don't cause them. Is it possible that aspartame enabled a genetic predisposition that you have? Absolutely. Did it cause it? Extremely unlikely. Was there data manipulation? Could well be. It has been implicated in a lot of health issues including mimicking MS in many people. It's really important to use proper terminology - stick with the contributing role and you won't get anyone complaining.

 

[rygon]

I wouldn't say that the apartame is the sole cause (or even a cause) of crohns due to the fact that crohns was discovered in to 1932, but aspartame wsan't FDA approved until 1981.

The breakdown of aspartamine only happens in the digestive tract due to the enzymes (or breakdowns happen due to very high temps, causing a bitter taste).

Here's some info on it, and also a comparison of other foods that break down into the same compounds
http://andevidencelibrary.com/topic.cfm?cat=4089&auth=1

 

[PomeSutton]

Well personally i think Crohn's is more of a Syndrome than a disease that likely has multiple causes i was just saying that i think aspartame caused it for me.

Also another artificial sweetener called Saccharin predates the 1930's which just so happens to be the other artificial sweetener in the juice i drink.

 

[Orchid]

Another completely harmless sweetener? It was only thought to be dangerous because it causes a reaction in mice it doesn't cause in humans.

 

[PomeSutton]

So they claim. Im sorry but having crohn's has made me pretty cynical, especially when there is as much money involved as there is in the artificial sweetener industry.

 

[Orchid]

In all primate studies done with saccharin it has proven utterly harmless. There are no human studies because for decades it was believed to be a serious carcinogen, and now there is no interest because it is so rarely used. It was dangerous in mice because of a combination of the high ph of their urine, the presence of calcium phosphate, and high levels of protein in their urine. The combination proved to be a breeding ground for small crystals that would rip and tear their tiny rodent bladders and constantly stimulated the production of replacement cells. The constant replication meant it was only a matter of time till one cell got strange ideas and went cancerous.

 

[VeganOstomy]

In all primate studies done with saccharin it has proven utterly harmless.

I'd like to point out that the primate study was funded by an industry lobby group that has a bias towards companies who would profit from allowing these chemicals in food:


http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Life_Sciences_Institute

 

[Too Many Bum Steers]

OK let's inject some logic into these arguments. What should we really fear? Individually... anything you think is dangerous because you are different from "statistics" and "me" and a "typical person." If aspartame hurts you, then ok, avoid it. But saying that it hurts everyone in exactly the same way as you, that's going a bit far... we're all unique.

There's a very intelligent man talking about toxics here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g1denSoAbc

Over here he talks about liver metabolites and how they can be cancer causing (versus the chemical itself):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1EEscgMF14&t=7m31s